The Courage of Love MADAME ALBANES

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 941, 7 April 1930, Page 5

The Courage of Love MADAME ALBANES

COPYRIGHT

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Author of “ Lot*'* Harvest,’* " Th« Ro\c to Loro." "The W»y to Win,*' etc.. ata.

CHAPTER XXIX. It had been no easy task for Joyca to bring Burke away from the office, and he had had to ask help from one of his colleagues. Yet when he got up very early, and went, fo see how his unexpected guest was looking, to his dismay he found the room empty and Burke gone. The man must have slept off the effects of his heavy drinking fit, must have got terrified, and stolen away. It was a little disconcerting to Joyce to have to confess that his prisoner had escaped, but the Avay in which Polly had been cornered gave the most complete satisfaction to him and to Gresham Townley. “Now I shall have to get well/* said the man who had been James Ladbroke’s fellow worker and friend, “because I shall have to convict this beast of murder. Burke is a secondary consideration. Without Pelly to fall back upon I don’t exactly know what he will do. But I shouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t run into trouble right away. Now', Joyce, you have to persuade your good friend, Dr. Bravington, to let me get up, because I must see James’s daughter. I have lost him. but his child still lives, and that is going to mean a great deal to me, Martin Joyce.”

Little by little, gently, softl}’, gradually, the mind of Diana drifted hack to where it had been before her j accident. Dr. Bravington had urged that she should be taken out of Loudon. and so Hugh Waverley’s mother, j to her great delight, was permitted j to convey her boy’s future wife in a j car back to the farm where Hughs lather was waiting to receive them. During those weeks in which all those who loved her watched (puttiug aside their own wishes until the girl was restored to something like Jiealth, and her mind was soothed and comforted) many things had happened. In the first place unexpected tragedy had fallen upon the two men who had robbed Diana of her father, and who would have made themselves master of all she possessed. ‘One man Pelly’ was never brought to justice! Where he had hidden the poison was never known, but he was found dead in his cell before his trial came on. Burke had disappeared, at least he was supposed to have disappeared, until. in the queer way in which destiny moves, the newspaper for which Martin Joyce worked recounted the death of a man who had been knocked down and very badly injured by a motor omnibus. The paper told how this man had been taken *o a hospital. and had remained unconscious tor a very long time, and had finally died w’ithout regaining consciousness or being able to reveal anything about himself. But his identity was revealed, how©rer, quite naturally by Edward Garrett. who had gone to this hospital to visit a mail lie knew who had also met with an accident. While he was there he had caught sight of Burke, been given the story of this unconscious man. and then he had been •Able to acquaint the hospital authorities with the fact that he recognised Henry Burke. And so it was that the papers, when they printed the news of Burke’s j

death, also * stated that he had been an accomplice of the man George Pelly, who had committed suicide when he had been lying in prison awaiting trial on a charge of murder. Life at the farm was one delightful experience to Diana. As strength came back to her, and she became accustomed to the charming old-fash-ioned house which was so dear to Hugh Waverley, Diana gradually got back all her former strength, even her sense of happiness, although she stil! fretted quietly over the fact that she had been cruelly deceived and her father was indeed separated from her by death. It was such a delightful life. yhere were so many things to interest Diana. She loved animals, she loved the little chickens, and even the little pigs. She had become great friends with Hugh’s father and would ride with him on a pony which he had put at her disposal. And even when Hugh was instrumental in bringing Bill Thorp to stay at the farm for Christmas, Diana had grown strong enough to talk about his mother and all that had happened after she had been carried away. She even shed tears for Agatha Thorp, because, as she said to Hugh’s mother, she. had looked into the heart of her aunt the last time they had spoken together, and she had seen that it had been as capable of being kind and gentle as any other woman’s heart might be. Where her cousin Susan was concerned, Diana was indifferent, although of course she thought it a very good thing that this girl, who had been so unkind to her always, had managed to meet with a man who had married her, and had taken her out to Canada. But it was a real pleasure to have Bill with her, and it may be truly said that the boy had never been so happy in his life as he was in these Christmas holidays. Diana was almost herself again when she met Cyril Gresham Townley. She had heard through Hugh and his mother, the story of his illness, thestory of how he had been shot down, and how devoted he was to the memory of her father. That made a great bond between them, and when he told her that her father had desired that he should he a guardian to her, the girl at once accepted him. So it was to Gresham Townley that Hugh had to go when Dr. Bravington agreed that he and Diana could be married. And Diana’s guardian gave warm and hearty assent.

And when the day came that there w as a very quiet, simple wedding celemony in the church where Hugh's father and mother had worshipped for vears, it was her father's oldest and best friend who gave Diana into the care of her husband.

There were very few people in the church, but among them were Miriam ond Edward Garrett, who were already married. The money and the paper promising to pay more, which Pelly had given to Francis StantJ'. had been handed hack again by the young man, and these had been conveyed to Gresham Townley. vJhen he was well enough he had interviewed young Stanton and his wife and he had already learnt to know the worth of Miriam, and he took upon himself to give to each person a certain sum of money, because he kn&w that this would have been Diana’s pvish.

As a matter of fact Garrett and Miriam were, engaged by Gresham Townley to *e in Diana's household when she married; the one as housekeeper and ,general manager, the other as chauffeur. But before they settled down* Hugh and Diana went away from ail that had been associated with the girl's recent unhappy experiences. Following her guardian’s advice, in which he was joined by Hugh’s father and mother, it was decided that the Young couple should spend their honeymoon in travelling. "The finest thing in the world for you both,’’ Dr. Bravington said. “You Pave to get away from ugly remembrances and painful thoughts. There’s

nothing like travel for re-establishing both mental and bodily strength.” Though she was such a rich woman, Diana’s tastes were very simple. And when she heard that the Thatch House was fo be sold by the trustees of her aunt’s estate, she at once turned to her husband, and told him that she wanted to buy it. “I know I wasn’t very happy there until you came, Hugh,” she said, "but still there was a charm about it. And somehow I think Aunt Agatha would b» glad to know that it belonged to me instead of going into the hands of strangers. And we must always let Bill regard it as his home. Besides,” Diana added, “you will go back to your work at the Abbey, and that is going to take- you ,a very long time, so the Thatch House will be just the place for you, as well as for me.” “A tent would be as beautiful if I had you with me,” Hugh said. They were sitting on the deck .of. a big liner which was carrying them through the Mediterranean, bringing them in contact from time to time with places about which they had both read, and thought, hut had never supposed they would see. There was another journey which Gresham Townley had told Hugh before they had gone on their honeymoon they would have to take some day. “Diana must go out to the West,” he said. “There are people there who loved her father, and who are wanting to meet his child. Her property is so vast, too. I think she ought to be put in direct contact with the knowledge of what belongs to her and all the responsibility.” Hugh had laughed, and then he had sighed. “I wish—oh, I wish there wasn’t quite so much money!” he said. And Gresham Townley laughed at this.

“Well, wait a little while, my dear man. You will grow accustomed to the tact that you have married a rich wife, and later on, when your children come, it will be a matter of great satisfaction to you that you and Diana can do things for a young family which would be very difficult for a working man such as you are.” “I am quite a little afraid of money. Hugh Waverley said. “You see how happy my father and mother are! They are prosperous, hut they have never had wealth. And we know only too well that if it hadn’t been for all this money, this property, this greatness, Diana would never have suffered what she was called upon to suffer. Yes, I am afraid of money,” Hugh Waverley added. “It is a destructive element; it can change people’s natures ! ” But Diana's guardian had only laughed. “No amount of money will change your wife’s nature,” he said. “She’s not only James Ladbroke’s child, hut she is full of beautiful qualities, and she loves you, just as you love her.” Hugh repeated this conversation to his young wife as they were sitting holding each other’s hands and looking at a glorious sunset. The sea, the wonder of the sea, the blue of the sky, the joy of travelling together, could make their hearts beat and thrill, but over and over again, when they were talking of what had happened, in soft whispers, Diana would confess that no joy had equalled the extraordinary joy that had come to her that day when he had driven her away from the market square to Rexbury. And on his side, Hugh would tell her of the exquisite happiness which she hadgiven him that night when they had stood together for just a little while in the garden of the Thatch House in the twilight, until the voice of Ellen had come calling Diana hack from a world of dreams to reality. There was so much to talk about, so much to plan, so much to fill their hearts, so much to draw them, if possible. more closely together. Hugh would go on working, and Diana would work with him. But there was more in life than their own aims and ambitions. Already their minds were full of schemes and plans to bring comfort and happiness to others. It would he a sacred duty to put courage (the courage of love!) into the lives of all those who needed help and care. (The End.)